2008年第四場電影——Horton Hears A Who!

************這篇影評可能有雷************

Horton (Jim Carrey) really is a nice guy. Rather, a nice elephant guy. He likes to entertain children, he is kind and good-hearted and having a good life in the Jungle. Then one day, he hears a small voice calling for help. To his surprise, the voice seems to come from a speck on top of a clover carried by the wind. After some trials, he manages to 『make contact』. Indeed, he has a chat with the Mayor of Who-ville (史蒂夫 Carell), a fully populated town that appears to be nested inside the speck. Hard to believe? Yup, exactly what Horton’s friends are thinking. They』re even starting to think he’s a bit nuts, and may spread crazy ideas into children’s minds.

Now, imagine what the Mayor of Who-ville would think, realizing his entire world fits on a flower, at the mercy of the tiniest breeze or the first hungry herbivore. Confronted with some evidence that this is indeed the situation, he convinces Horton to take care of his city and put it in a safe place. Horton takes the task very seriously indeed, but his quest is not aided by the skepticism, then the outright hostility of other animals in the jungle. Meanwhile, the Mayor of the Who has to convince his people of the reality of the situation as well.

To be honest I got a bit worried after the first few minutes into this movie. It had, at first, all the appearances of an episode of Barney the Dinosaur’s show. You know, like cute, colorful, happy, and, huh, brain-dead. Luckily, this initial bad impression was quickly dissipated when a gang of chimps appeared and started playing pranks involving bananas. Yes, this is a movie that kids will enjoy, yet it has enough witty jokes and back story to entertain the adults too. As you probably gathered from reading the first two paragraphs, the story is not exactly trivial and unfolds nicely once all the pieces fall in place. It is adequately supported by good acting and a thoroughly well designed 3D world. A rather puzzling scene (but short) in a dead wood seemed very reminiscent of Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH, but if anything, it just goes to illustrate that Blue Sky people got a good taste for their references

Solid stuff, 7/10.